Red Strings: The Fourth Quarter Quell
by DefoNotAFangirl
Summary: "On the hundredth anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that the Capitol is merciful, tributes shall be placed into randomly-assigned pairs, with the surviving pair of tributes to be the victor." Open SYOT!


**Rose Lyvewire**

_**18, District 3, Victor of the 99th Hunger Games**_

Your phone has been going off nonstop over the past few hours.

You're not surprised, really. When you watched the President reveal the Quell twist on the giant screen in your too-large home, you knew it'd be a big deal, Mentoring-wise, which was a conundrum, to say the least. As a new Victor, you were expected to Mentor, but to have such a significant shift in how things would work your already shaky opinion on how well you'd Mentor has been shattered.

You sigh, and unlock your phone, sinking into a bed at least three times too big for you. Might as well get it over with.

_heyy how ya holding up- fourmulateaplan_

Figures Nemo would be the first to message you. He's undoubtedly the most… _enthusiastic_ of any Victor you've met. He says he was inspired by Finnick back in his heyday, but now you find that hard to believe. Apparently, he was never quite the same after he won the Third Quarter Quell. You open the message.

_yo rosie you seeing this?_

Attached is an image of the President, with the text of the Quell announcements, slightly blurry from a poorly-taken picture, but you can still make out the text (barely). "On the hundredth anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that the Capitol is merciful, tributes shall be placed into randomly-assigned pairs, with the surviving pair of tributes to be the victor."

He's sent a message after this, too. _doesn't seem like they're doin district pairs. not sure how we're doing mentoring yet, sorry new girl. talk to me whenever ya want, 'k? ps your hair is awesome you look like you came just out of four :p_

You sigh slightly. You know Nemo means well, really. He doesn't have a mean bone in his body, but whether he meant it or not it still hit a sore spot. You never were particularly fond of your hair- red and bright enough children used to say you looked like one of the freaks from the Capitol.

Maybe you could dye it now you have all the money in the world. If that wouldn't ruin your image, of course. You'd never be allowed to do _that_.

The next few messages are of little importance. An annual reminder that mental health programs are available to any Victor struggling with the stress- you try to be grateful since you've heard from all the old Victors that times before this were hellish- and a message sent requesting you send in your talent sometime soon.

The very idea of that is laughable, honestly. What talents do you have? You can tie a knot in a cherry with your tongue, you suppose. You're decent but not good at video games. You can drive away any potential friends, like you've done for the last seventeen years, or bash in a scared twelve-year-olds head in over and over and over and over and over and over again until the blood runs down your chest and the cannons say you've won but you just feel numb and wish you were the one lying dead in the field and you-

Deep breaths. That's what they told you. Deep breaths, and think of something calming. You're not sure what's calming for you, now. The harsh sounds of machinery on machinery used to give you a sense of comfort in the factories, making sure to be quick and nimble to avoid the machinery grabbing your arm, your clothes, your hair, but now it all reminds you of a better time, when you didn't wake up with blood on your hands and seeing them whenever you close your eyes on bad days, where you had to take the pills they gave you until they all ran out and you felt embarrassed to ask for more- they were meant to last you a year, not three months.

You're coping, that's something calming, you suppose. Well, not coping, but you've done better than the Victors you've seen turned to drink, or meaningless sex, or the ones who see things that aren't there. You're incredibly lucky, that's another. Three of the other tributes were twelve, neither from Four were volunteers, and the Careers died on the first day in a freak landslide. Even then, you only won because you ran the fastest. With only a single kill to your name, you're not surprised that the Capitol seems to have far less interest in you than your fellow Victors even though you only won last year.

That's just how you like it, really. Being overlooked, just another face in the crowd seems far better than everyone knowing your name. Honestly, you're pretty sure the only reason anyone even focuses on you anymore is your relationship with Giovanna.

She's your opposite in every way, and you love that about her. Dark haired and stony-faced, six foot two and strong enough to lift you up without even breaking a sweat. It's no wonder the Capitol adores her- especially since she'd the only living Victor Twelve has. You remember watching her games, the ones a year before your own, and realising you liked girls for the first time. You stumbled over your words first talking to her after your victory. She remained stoic but slid you her number on a scrap of paper, and you've been dating ever since.

That's less something to be calmed over though, and more like something that sets your heart (and some other parts) on fire. Still, you're here, and not back in the tombs again. That's something.

Next message, surprisingly, is her. Giovanna is never the one to initiate anything, so you stare in shock for a few seconds, before opening the message. Unsurprisingly, it's short and to the point, a simple:

_Rose._

_If you nneed help mentoring, contact me in lighttof recent events._

_Giovanna._

_3._

She still hasn't quite got how to do the hearts that you sometimes do, but even so, the fact that she even tried is impressive enough. She struggles writing texts enough- she lost a few fingers in the Games, and her hands always shake badly after a nasty head injury she also got in the Games, so anything added to her messages probably took a lot of extra work.

You reply, of course, _with a quick love you baby! id love that lets talk more on the phone?_ It's a pre-programmed response at this point- you know how much she struggles to type, so you're used to talking on the phone when you can't meet up. As Victors, the two are you are allowed that privilege occasionally, and you savour it every chance you get even if it means that you become the centre of attention.

The next message makes your blood run cold. The title is deceptively simple and even cutesy, a _Changes to the Games, Mentoring and some discussion! 3 3_ but you know the only person who uses those heart emoticons more than you do is the Head Gamemaker herself, Mariposa Crimson.

Any time you see her, you want to be sick. You could chalk it up to her destroying your lives with her Games, but there's something else to it. Her constant smug grin, her laughing happily when recounting some of the more gruesome deaths in her games, there's undoubtedly something off about her that any pleasant demeanour can't match.

With shaking hands, you open the message, unsurprisingly as unprofessional seeming as the title, but you're certain it's a calculated move of some sort. Everything is, with her.

_So, to clear up any confusion with the latest Games, we're giving important personel like you some vital information!_

_The paired tributes will be completely random. A list of pairs exists (with District and gender instead of names, of course 3) but those are confidential. As such, Mentorship will have to change temporarily! Mentors will be assigned to the tribute of their gender and District as usual, but they will be working with the mentor who's assigned to their partner! I hope Mentors enjoy this opportunity to work with those of other Districts, as we have been encouraging as of late 3_

_When one half of a tribute pair dies, the tracker of the other will administer a deadly shock to their partner. As such, it's expected for the Games to be over quicker or to involve slightly less action than usual, and in addition, the Bloodbath will likely be shorter._

_The arena is 3TOP SECRET3 but I can promise that it'll be very different! I hope you'll enjoy it as much as we do- you laugh bitterly at that. How could you enjoy children being slaughtered?- and feel free to leave suggestions for next years arena! We value your feedback!_

_Mariposa3333_

_PS: Rose, I wish you luck with your first Mentoring experience!_

Well.

This year is sure to be interesting.

—

_Hey! I hope y'all enjoyed this preview of my latest SYOT, Red Strings! I apologise if the Quell Twist isn't original, and I apologise for not being able to continue Children are Cruel! I'm more comfortable in second person because… actually, I'm not sure. I believe it's allowed when it's not a reader insert, and if it isn't who cares really. Just don't be tattletales :p_

_How do you feel about my introduction to the state of Panem? It's certainly a lot better off than in canon, that's for sure. My rules and form are in my profile (unless I forgot to update it like an idiot), so please check them out! I'm doing introductions two districts at a time, or I'm at least planning to so there may be a few more prologues before we meet our lovely and soon to be dead tributes! But I won't promise anything..._


End file.
